Why Jacques Garcia Just Sold Some of His Most Valuable Antiques
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French architect and designer Jacques Garcia just sold a portion of his prized antiques collection at an auction with Sotheby’s in Paris. The sale, which included 75 lots from his extensive collection of furniture, art, and decorative arts (one for every year of his life), raised $8.7 million—and set several auction records for 18th-century pieces.
Among the record-breaking lots was a Sèvres porcelain 'Beau bleu' armorial and ornithological part dinner service that sold for €889,000, an auction record for an 18th Century Sèvres Dinner Service. Garcia displayed the porcelain service, which comprised 92 pieces and once belonged to Laurance Rockefeller, on the buffet in his dining room at Champ de Battaile.
The sale also realized top prices for Louis XVI furniture, including an ebonized Louis XVI console table by Adam Weisweiler, which sold for €825,500 (a record for a console by the master cabinet-maker) and a Louis XVI giltwood furniture set from Fontainebleau and stamped by George Jacob, which sold for €825,500.
Proceeds from the sale will fund a foundation Garcia is creating to preserve Champ de Battaile, his 17th-century chateau in Normandy. Designed by French architect Louis le Vau (who worked on the Louvre, the Tuileries Palace, Vaux-le-Vicomte, and most famously Chateau de Versailles), the estate was purchased by Garcia in 1992.
At that time, it had fallen into a state of disrepair. Over the three decades since, the designer has renovated the palace, filling it with his extraordinary collection of art and antiques, and restored the gardens (based off an original drawing by French landscape architect Andre le Notre) to create the largest private park in France.
Today, it’s not only his personal weekend escape where he entertains family and friends but a living testament to his glamorous and historically inspired taste that he opens to the public for limited hours from April through December.
“The story of Champ de Bataille is one of love and dedication. The castle’s interiors and its gardens have been my life’s work, and I have been proud to share it over the years with not just my close circle but also with the public,” Garcia said. “Though it was difficult to part with some of my favorite works of art, I am thrilled to say that the sum raised means that its future has been protected for many years to come.”
Garcia is known for his fastidious collecting, particularly of French furniture and decorative and fine art from the 18th and 19thcenturies. (It has been widely reported that he purchases at least one object a day.) Most of the items up for auction were of royal provenance, including a Louis XVI painted fire screen made for Queen Marie-Antoinette's private apartments at Versailles purchased by a French institution for €254,000 (a world record for any gilt-wood fire screen).
“He’s very interested in certain characters like Marie Antoinette and Madame de Pompadour, who played a role in convincing Louis XV to invest in Sevres,” said Richard Hird, Sotheby’s vice president and specialist in European ceramics and glass, who noted that Garcia is still collecting. “It’s so great to find these objects in a historical house and still being used the way they were intended to be.”
But it’s clear from his decision to part ways with a portion of his collection that what he loves even more than his things is his storied estate—and sharing it with others. Of the chateaus that are outside Paris and privately owned, “this is the most beautiful castle in France in terms of its interiors,” said Mario Tavella—president of Sotheby’s France and chairman of Sotheby’s Europe. “It is truly a lesson in pure style, with every room accomplishing a perfect aesthetic. It is also in a way, a lesson of passion and of love as Garcia is a man who dedicated his life to a project that he loved.”
“I find the idea behind this sale both heroic and very touching,” said Tavella, especially if “you think of him as a father who has a lot of children and has to now make a sacrifice. Some of what we are offering in the auction is the very best furniture from the castle, including the vases, console and armchair. He cherished these works of art very deeply, and worked very hard to acquire them, and it is testament to his nature that he is now selling them for the future longevity of the castle.”
Perhaps it should come as no surprise that welcoming the world to his beloved home is top of mind for Garcia: The designer has made a tremendous and influential impact on hospitality via his vast portfolio of hotel and restaurant design, having designed over 70 hotels (think Paris’s Hotel Costes, La Mamounia in Marrakech and the Banyan tree in Doha) and many of the most sought after restaurants in major cities.
His work in the hospitality category has given him a platform for “speaking to the world, and teaching a lesson in style, by reintroducing and reinterpreting the atmosphere of 18th and 19thcentury French design for a new generation,” said Tevella. “Through his interiors, Garcia has continued to spread French style around the world and in an inventive, bold and sensual way.”
Furthermore, Garcia has a long personal history of fighting to protect historic buildings. In an interview published by Sotheby’s in advance of the sale, Garcia noted he had twice been arrested, both times for attempting to block the destruction of historic buildings in Paris.
“The first time, when I was a student at the Arts Décoratifs….I conducted sit-ins for three years to avoid the demolition of the house where I was born in Paris, at the corner of Hôtel Salé (where the Picasso Museum is now, in the Marais). Unfortunately, it was torn down. The second time it was even more important for me, because I was so fiercely opposed to the demolition of the Halles de Paris, designed by Baltard. I also lost that battle,” Garcia told art historian and journalist Guy Boyer.
“Those two adverse experiences showed me that we must remain attentive in order to preserve our historical buildings. That is why I am selling these objects which are so dear to me: to protect Champ de Bataille.”
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